Written by: Evan Kohne

The best “true” stories are almost always layered with fiction. What is a few embellishments when they entice and fascinate the masses? Orson Welles’, in his 1938 broadcast The War of the Worlds heavily with the truth, deceiving audiences into believing his performance was real. While never actually lying to his listeners (since he had made it clear that it was a performance at the beginning and end), Welles’ manipulated his audience intentionally in order to convince them an invasion was underway. In Rhum & Clay Theatre Company’s production by the same name, fake news and the need to embellish a story is brought to bear on the modern setting of 2016.

We join the story part way into the broadcast of Welles’ reading, showing how actors and technicians trick the audience with supposedly real news interruptions and background noises, amount other tactics. This becomes the underlying plot of the show as the main story is revealed. Meena (Jess Mabel Jones), an aspiring journalist attempts to get her interview with John (Matthew Wells) about his mother’s abandonment onto a radio station to make a name for herself. Rebuffed for the small scope of her story and the need to make it bigger, sexier, and more gripping, Meena travels to find John’s family. This journey leads her to Grover Mill, New Jersey, the site of Welles’ Martian invasion. There she meets John’s estranged family (played by Amalia Vitale, Matthew Wells, and Julian Spooner), only to discover a family divided by lies masquerading as truth.

The War of the Worlds is the story of how easy it is to let lies rule us. As Julian Spooner’s character remarks, “these people just eat it (fake news) up.” Lies make complicated and unsavory moments simple and easy to consume. We, the public, eagerly accept lies that fit our outlook on life, if only to help us cope with an world we no longer feel quite at home in. The cast excellently communicates this through their character’s easy acceptance of their own manipulation of others while becoming enraged at the lies told to them.

What the show leaves is a stage where lies flow like nectar and the truth is harder to swallow. However, what should scare audiences is the question of where does the performance stops? When is a lie ignorance, and when is a lie vicious in its intent? The characters of The War of the Worlds attempt to hide this answer by performing ignorance. When directly confronted, they squirm and do everything to cast blame aside and pretend they aren’t the villain for weaponizing lies. One is always left in the dark about whether the motive is to cause harm or not.

This is the great danger of performance. The ability to inhabit a fake persona so well that many will believe that is your true persona allows for abuse. An “act” can be perceived as real, while the true self can be seen as mere performance. When is Meena’s kindness towards others genuine, as opposed to an act to lure information out of those she interviews? When is the news we read intentionally rigged to enrage us? We like to think we are immune to such trickery. But as the show would argue, we are all eagerly primed for the next big lie.